Week 9 Update - Young Farmers
Hi Farm School Parents,
Brrrr! We started Friday morning in the low 40s and it didn't get much warmer than 60 by the end of the day. Quite the contrast from a few weeks ago! We warmed up with a fast moving game of Fox and Rabbits, then remembered that we had burned all our wood last week, so we then launched into a game of Bird Survival. This is another tag-style game where pairs of nesting sparrows try to collect “eggs” while protecting their hidden nests from blue jays and avoiding a single red tailed hawk.
Next came our farm chores. We concluded the mystery bucket experiment and discovered that most of the food scraps we put in a few weeks ago were no longer recognizable and had transformed into a “lovely” compost which we used to side dress our veggies planted in the square foot garden bed. Our class was also on chicken duty, so we fed the flock and collected a bakers dozen of eggs. One hen took flew out of the run and perched on LJ - apparently he looked like a safe haven! We then planted fava beans in the row beds - we’re looking forward to making fava bean puree in the spring. (Or at least I am!)
Finally we harvested veggies for a very colorful stir-fry: bok choy, mizuna, kale, eggplant, peppers. They went to work chopping, then helped cook it up on my camp stove. A little garlic, tamari sauce, lime and rice noodles and…voila! We finished just in time for lunch! Yum.
After lunch we planted paperwhite bulbs in jars to take home. If you put them in a sunny window and keep them watered, you should (hopefully) see blooms by the holidays. While working, Vlada shared with us a beautiful Russian version of the lantern walk song. (Waldorf parents will understand.)
We finished the day off with a final round of Bird Survival. Well played, everyone!
Just a reminder that last week is our final class for the fall semester. Winter classes start on January 7th. We’ll be doing more work with fire starting, bird language and identification, native and medicinal plant ID, herbal medicine making, cooking - and of course - farming! Please be sure to sign up soon to secure your spot.
See y’all on Friday,
Ms. Bridget